Weaver is a suspect in a Jan. 5 robbery near the Greyhound bus terminal on Northeast Third Street - less than two miles from where he is accused of shootingPeney, said police Capt. Jim Hurley.

Minutes after the robbery, police issued a bulletin over the radio for a man fitting Weaver's description, Hurley said.

The new information may offer a motive for why Weaver, who has a record of minor arrests in North Carolina but no history of violence, would have shot Officer Peney, who stopped to question him because he was acting suspiciously.

Weaver, 34, also is suspected in "several other incidents around the city," Hurley said.

Hurley declined to provide details about the armed robbery or "other incidents," citing an active homicide investigation of Weaver.

Earlier this week, police obtained a search warrant and seized Weaver's Honda Accord from the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie store on Cordova Road.

Hurley would not say exactly what police were hoping to find in the vehicle.

But William Laswell, one of Weaver's public defenders, said he was told police found ammunition and firearms in the car. Laswell also said his client may have been living in the vehicle.

Weaver, who moved to Florida about a year ago from Salisbury, N.C., is accused of shooting Peney in the 1400 block of South Federal Highway near the Gene Whidden Adult Center.

Minutes before the shooting, King Irving, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, walked out of the nearby Blockbuster Video and saw a man thought to be Weaver standing in the median of South Federal Highway.

Irving said he thought the man was "acting real funny" and was going to rob him.

Weaver was arrested early Jan. 6 after a nine-hour manhunt by more than 150 police officers from all over South Florida. He was found hiding in a lake near Evergreen Cemetery, and later led police to the .revolver that police say was used to shoot Peney.

Detectives Friday night returned to the shooting scene on South Federal Highway and used flashing traffic signs and posted photographs to find people who know Weaver or may have seen the shooting.

According to the autopsy report, Peney's death was ruled a homicide, caused by a bullet that entered his right forearm and struck his chest, then fractured the fifth rib, pierced his right lung and vertebra before perforating the descending aorta and vena cava and exiting his body. The gunshot wound caused extensive hemorrhaging and shock.

The single bullet passed through the unprotected arm hole in Peney's bulletproof vest.

Weaver is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail. The Broward State Attorney's Office has until the end of the month to present a case against Weaver to the grand jury.